Grace Ashiru
The leading insurance company pushing mass market insurance acceptance, Turaco, has announced that it has successfully closed a $10 million Series A equity round. The deal was led by AfricInvest, via the Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund and existing investor Novastar Ventures.
Enza Capital, Global Partnerships, Zephyr Acorn, Operator Stack, Asi Ventures Limited, and Push Ventures were among the other investors who participated in this funding round. Turaco is a distributor, broker, and the primary customer interaction between the insurer and the end consumer. The company was established in 2019.
Turaco can accomplish this through utilising a B2B and B2B2C business model, forming alliances with leading tech-enabled enterprises with a sizable customer or employee base in emerging regions, and more. Among them are some of the most reliable names in the industry on the African continent, such as Sun King, One Acre Fund, Tugende, M-KOPA, and VisionFund.
Through its partnerships, the insurtech has designed and delivered a set of custom medical, life, asset, and vehicle insurance packages that have already affected more than 500,000 people in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda.
In Africa, 90% of people do not have a formal safety net that will help them if they get sick or hurt. Insurance is still very young and has a long way to go.
Most African insurance underwriters and intermediaries utilise rigid systems that do not allow for integration with external partners, and many continue to use paper-based processes.
Turaco is building in an area that hasn’t been used much yet. This is opening up a huge market for them, and they are also coming up with new ideas for mass-market customers by giving them a cutting-edge solution that will drive inclusive insurance.
With a powerful API connection that enables simple collaboration with its external partners. Turaco allows firms to seamlessly incorporate insurance into their products and services without exposing them to any additional risk or expense.
For instance, in 2019, Turaco formed a partnership with M-KOPA. This fintech platform offers digital financial services to customers who do not have access to traditional financial institutions to provide M-direct KOPA’s sales agents and consumers with insurance coverage integrated into the company’s products.
Insurance is now being utilised to drive income, client and agent retention, and resilience. It is now active in three different nations.
Since it twas first introduced, the insurance platform enabled by technology has developed to become an industry leader at the forefront of developing innovative insurance solutions.
Since it was first introduced, the insurance platform enabled by technologies has evolved to become an industry leader at the forefront of developing innovative insurance solutions.
The price of Turaco’s products is approximately two dollars per month, and the company offers simple terms and conditions as well as a fully digitised claims process. This process enables claimants to report their losses via WhatsApp or by phone call, and payouts are made via mobile money in fewer than three business days.
Ted Pantone, CEO and co-founder of Turaco, responded in response to the funding boost: “We are happy to encourage insurance uptake, particularly among low-income earners.”
Even though ninety per cent of our clients have never purchased insurance before, the fact that so many people are interested in doing so is somewhat astonishing. They just do not have convenient access to products optimally suited to their needs.
Because of this investment, we will be able to expand our company to serve millions of insurance clients in all of our existing and new areas. We are happy to have these outstanding new investors join our team for the upcoming development season.
Investment Officer of AfricInvest, Patricia Rinke, stated, “In our discussions with Ted and his team, we could see a wonderful vision and immaculate execution coming together.”
We are excited to partner with Turaco as they continue to expand on their early success and the novel distribution model the company has developed to meet the unmet demand in the African insurance sector.
Yassine Oussaifi, a partner at AfricInvest and co-head of CAIF, said, “Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the lowest rates of insurance coverage in the world, at less than 3%.”We think Turaco has the tools and know-how to fill this gap and reach low-income people with products that meet their needs.
So, it is a crucial part of the effort to help protect the poorest people from unexpected financial burdens and shocks. We are happy to help Turaco grow and positively affect the whole continent.
Olwatóyn Emmanuel-Olubake, the Investment Director at Novastar Ventures, said, “Since Novastar’s first investment in Turaco in 2020, the company has grown by more than 300%. We are pleased to continue our partnership with the great team at Turaco, and we would like to extend a warm welcome to new investors such as AfricInvest, Global Partnerships, and Enza Capital as they join us on this adventure.
This capital will assist the company in further expanding its already world-class staff, developing new products, accelerating partnerships, and accessing new markets to fulfil its mission of mitigating the impact of everyday shocks for millions of desperate individuals across Africa.
Africa has more than 500 million mobile phone users, and most don’t have insurance. Turaco is in an excellent position to take advantage of this untapped market and is stepping up its efforts to grow by forming strategic partnerships.
So, Turaco will continue to drive innovation in inclusive insurance and stay at the front of the fast-growing insurance industry on the continent.
